The Sickness That Healed Me
by Rola Elnaggar
I was three years old, white as a sheet, heart racing in my ears and hiding between two twin beds, all alone in the apartment with the only source of light coming from the mute TV, when the front door creaked open, and two pairs of footsteps pattered against the carpet—instilling more fear into my frail toddler heart—and stepped into my childhood room. It was my grandma and my uncle. I was relieved it was them and not a stranger coming to kidnap me, but it was so short-lived because the clock was ticking on my days as an only child.